1. Field of the Invention
The present application relates to a hose for conveying fluid and, more particularly, to a braided hose that is configured to reduce or prevent rubber from protruding through gaps in the outer braid.
2. Description of the Related Art
High performance hose with a braided stainless steel wire cover is used in racing and show car applications where a shinny and bright appearance is demanded. This type of hose has typically been made on rigid mandrels. This manufacturing method requires excessive floor space, is more labor intensive and costly, and limits the continuous length of hose that can be produced.
Therefore, there are many advantages to building this type of hose on a flexible mandrel that allows coiling up to 5000 feet of hose on a reel. However, simply transferring the production of the hose from a rigid mandrel to a flexible mandrel oftentimes results in rubber from the hose protruding through the gaps in the braided wire cover (also known as rubber “strike through”). This is due to the fact that, during curing of the hose, the flexible mandrel expands much more than the rigid mandrel. This increase in expansion forces excess rubber from the hose out through the gaps in the braided wire cover showing up as small black spots on the outside of the hose. This results in unacceptable appearance to the customer.